TERRORISM, DEMOCRACY, AND THE APOCALYPTIC NARRATIVE Kari Milner Strøm MASTER I POLITIVITENSKAP 2011 1 2 Abstract The ‘war on terror’ that President George W. Bush declared following the attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 is conducted on many levels, one of which is the debate concerning the need to ‘balance’ security and human rights. His early announcement that ‘you’re either with us or against us’ reinforces dualistic construction and leaves little room for a diversity of opinions and, consequently, for a comprehensive and clear-headed assessment of the means with which the war is being fought. Indicative of the fundamental human rights principles at stake is the question of whether the terrorist threat justifies the use of torture. Despite recent speculation that the war on terror might have been over with the killing of Osama bin Laden the open-ended process of ‘securitizing’ societies in order to minimize threat is likely to continue. The numerous textual and anecdotal glimpses included in this thesis aim to shed some light on how the articulation of threat among politicians and security professionals in particular creates more lay anxiety than necessary, and how everything from the focus on binary opposites to myths surrounding policing, media coverage of terrorist acts, the disciplinary power of the state, the voices of academia, and everyday conversations about surveillance can deeply affect democracy, perceptions of risk, terrorism and ‘the Other’. 3 Acknowledgments The first person I would like to thank is my supervisor, Ivar Fahsing, whose policing input and reading suggestions have been invaluable and whose no-nonsense approach is greatly appreciated. He also provided me with much needed encouragement that will keep me going for a while… The Norwegian Police University College also deserves thanks for giving me the opportunity to delve into an interesting and important area of study by admitting me to the Masters programme in Police Science. Lastly, I am grateful for the support from friends and family who are still wondering why I chose to do this. KMS Oslo, 1 June 2011 4 Table of contents Terrorism, democracy, and the apocalyptic narrative ..........................................................................1 Abstract ..............................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments ..............................................................................................................................4 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................7 2. The apocalyptic narrative ................................................................................................................9 2.1 Human rights in the age of counter-terrorism ......................................................................... 13 2.2 World leaders and public opinion post-9/11 ............................................................................ 15 3. Theoretical framework and research tools .................................................................................... 16 3.1 Ethical concerns ...................................................................................................................... 21 4. Key concepts in use ....................................................................................................................... 21 4.1 The narrative ........................................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Terrorism ................................................................................................................................ 23 4.3 Liberal democracies................................................................................................................. 27 4.4 Universal human rights............................................................................................................ 30 4.5 The ‘othering’ process ............................................................................................................. 31 4.6 Surveillance ............................................................................................................................. 35 4.7 The police................................................................................................................................ 37 5. The voices in the terrorism debate ................................................................................................ 39 5.1 The language of politicians ...................................................................................................... 39 5.2 The role of the media .............................................................................................................. 42 5.2.1 The relationship between terrorists and the media........................................................... 46 5.3 The everyday vernacular and life under GWOT and hyper-control ........................................... 48 5.4 Academic voices in the surveillance and security discourse ..................................................... 51 5.4.1 The panopticon, surveillance and visibility ........................................................................ 51 5.4.2 The surveillant assemblage ............................................................................................... 52 5.4.3 The role of counter-terrorism and surveillance studies ..................................................... 55 5.5 Summing up the voices and the discourse ............................................................................... 56 6. The politics of terrorism and counter-terrorism............................................................................. 57 6.1 A state of emergency .............................................................................................................. 60 6.2 Exceptionalism ........................................................................................................................ 62 6.2.1 How exceptional was 9/11? .............................................................................................. 63 6.3 Executive prerogative and neo-conservatism .......................................................................... 65 5 6.4 Secrecy and national security .................................................................................................. 70 6.5 The temporal factor: Futur anterieur ....................................................................................... 73 6.6 Terrorism and its causes .......................................................................................................... 75 7. Delegating the task of governing and policing unease ................................................................... 78 7.1 Policing myths and dilemmas .................................................................................................. 79 7.2 Racial/religious profiling .......................................................................................................... 84 7.3 Transparency, accountability and the rule of law ..................................................................... 89 7.4 The thick green line ................................................................................................................. 91 8. Surveillance, counter-terrorism and human rights ......................................................................... 92 8.1 The lack of resistance to counter-terrorism and surveillance ................................................... 93 8.2 Rights skepticism ..................................................................................................................... 94 8.3 ‘Balancing’ security and rights ................................................................................................. 97 9. Threats to our sense of security .................................................................................................... 99 9.1 Challenges to democracy ....................................................................................................... 101 10. Can SWOT shed some light on GWOT? ...................................................................................... 105 10.1 The rule of law .................................................................................................................... 106 10.2 An open society ................................................................................................................... 107 10.3 Resistance and public engagement ...................................................................................... 107 10.4 Democratic policing ............................................................................................................. 109 10.5 Community relations and diversity ...................................................................................... 109 10.6 Resources and resilience ..................................................................................................... 110 11. Summary and conclusion .......................................................................................................... 111 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................... 115